Opinion: Ebola: Should We Stop Panicking?

Best of the Web Today Columnist James Taranto on Syracuse University's decision to disinvite a journalist recently returned from West Africa. Photo credit: Getty Images.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... Syracuse University recently did so by the journalist ... who was recently returned from West Africa on fears ... that he might be carrying the ball up ... gone too far ... as of the Web Today Columnist James Taranto is here and James ... is to rethink ... while I think that what they did is understandable I think Janet overstates the case but what happened was this guy is disordered rose for the Washington post ... had been invited to speak of the journalism school in Syracuse which is probably rather prestigious ... and II ... was dis invited ... because there were fears on campus about that you know you might've contract the virus too much credit ... that he'd been through the twenty one day quarantine period which public health officials assure us is up to twenty minutes or that you're not in any commodity risk are not in a dangerous part ... of becoming SEC or ... past success on others ... bought ... they don't trust the public health or to ... give him reason not to trust the public health authorities and well ... that's rhetorical question that ... had been eyeing the CDC has side of the Obama administration issued any number of pronouncements that turned out not be quite true ... art some of these are understandable this is a I did did you know when I use to dealing with this particular disease here in America there's a lot we don't know ... why ... but when you know it's better if you I think admit the which you don't know rather than make these cards for Christmas which nobody really sees me is to blame for whipping up the public's fears James or do you think it really is a matter of the institutions ... are sending the wrong messages and the date they haven't gotten the story straight well I suppose if Notre analyst ever reported on Ebola than not there would be no ay ... ay there would be no public-spirited ... of course this also would have been invited to speak it Syracuse the first place ... but ... yet it's obviously legitimate story this is a horrible disease that is ravaging parts of Africa ... Audi has come here in small numbers there are some reasonable fears that tight ... five that the existing by ... protocols are not sufficient to prevent its spread ... and so I'd I'd only you can fault the media for reporting on a legitimate news story ... I've bought ... I think the the idea that there is a general are declining confidence in the government which ... does is for good ... the Democrats are engaging in the political panic fear because all this ebola stuff is happening two weeks before we go to the midterms yes and tie it does not have a column last week in which I talked about how ... our left wing commentators ... work denouncing Ebola panic and saying this is how Republicans are trying to win the Senate by whipping up panicked over Ebola ... Scott Brown for example was talking about the government's though he's running for Senate in India right ... and I don't think that there is really anything like a full blown panic about a bullet but there are times in a very funny piece last week with a sad ... public health authorities are ... trying to counter this other contagion of of public hysteria ... the Fed and the second paragraph they say well this really has materialized in any major way that people aren't showing up in emergency rooms ... no one is locked in the basement courting food ... that that state itself is too good to check I think it's largely TROW ... buy ... and sell yet people are anxious but I don't think that there is a full blown panic except for the political panic on the part of Democrats who are being held to account for the seller's only okay so only a political candidate right now at least ... thus a lead to calmness chain saran so thanks thanks very much